Lifestyle Entrepreneur, former professional athlete and current Olympic Hopeful with the USA Men's National Team for Team Handball. Host of The School of Greatness podcast, and salsa dancing fan. More at http://lewishowes.com

How I Leveraged LinkedIn to Create a 7-Figure Business In Three Years

Your possessions have been reduced to a laptop and a suitcase of clothes.

As for a paycheck, your next paycheck is based on whatever odd jobs you can find.

Not exactly the American Dream, huh?

This is the exact situation I found myself in following a career ending injury in 2007 that took me from the AFL (Arena Football League) to my sister’s couch.

Broke, broken and confused, I had no idea what was in store for me next and no idea what I was supposed to do with my life.

Facing Reality

It’s a strange place to find yourself. You’ve worked hard, made sacrifices and have finally achieved your dream. There’s really no words to describe the joy and satisfaction that comes with accomplishing something like that, but the reality is that goals are like anything else in life – temporary.

Anything, and I mean anything can be taken from us in a moments notice. It doesn’t matter what it is – a car, a relationship, a loved one or even a career . Everything we “own” is on the table – that was the first thing I had to accept.

My second realization was that even though I would never play professional football again, I still possessed the characteristics of a professional athlete. Things like discipline, competitiveness and hustle don’t just disappear due to outside forces. Our character can only be surrendered and I had no intentions of putting up the white flag.

Finding the leverage Points

Every situation is going to have its unique benefits, you just have to find them and exploit them. No matter how bad it it may be, your perception of the situation is all that really matters.

The depression started to fade the moment I embraced the understanding that I would no longer be playing Pro football. Instead of saying to myself, “This is a bummer, my life is over. I didn’t get my college degree and I have no back up plan.” I shifted my message to: ”I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to play professional football and achieve my childhood dream. I’m so happy I walked away with a broken wrist and didn’t break my neck or have any serious brain injuries. I’m so excited about all of the possibilities open to me now that I have all of this free time.”

There’s always something to gain from any unfortunate situation – an ally that can assist you. For me, that ally became the isolation that my injury created.

Even though I had no money, I was rich with time.

I also realized the only way I was going to find my way back to any level of success would be to let go of old dreams and embrace something new, so I set my focus on the world of business, marketing and relationships.

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Your story is really inspiring to many young men and women graduating right now! It’s a tough economy and many of us are hitting big obstacles. What you said about perception really hit me and it’s something I’ve been struggling with for the past year to really change my perspective. Thank you for the great article!

I have a couple of questions as well…

Linked In is great for networking and for people who are doing B2B model of business. But is it as effective for someone who is using B2C model of business? In my experience I was able to network and learn from many people in business like me but I wasn’t able to change that into leads and sales since my customers weren’t necessarily found on Linked In.

There are many amazing ways to turn Linkedin interaction into business leads. I recently read the free ebook “Learning LinkedIn From the Experts: How to Build a Powerful Business Presence on LinkedIn” ( http://bit.ly/KRGgDA ) which provided smart and legitimate ways to increase your presence for the purpose of networking for lead generation and personal advancement etc.

That’s encouraging, and I can relate. It can be overwhelming to suddenly lose everything, but once you go through that, you’re not as afraid of losing it again, and that makes you more flexible! A huge non-malignant tumor and subsequent surgery left me weak, homeless (in Alaska), jobless, carless, with massive medical debt, and I was denied disability because “I was going to get better eventually”. My family couldn’t house me for more than a few weeks. After some prayer and phone calls, I got into low-income housing and food stamps. Getting Assistance was a soul-crusher, but hey, I figure my past and future taxes more than made up for it.

Same as you, I realized that I was rich on time, if low on funds and mobility. I decided to attack my problem from every angle. I started a home business using a computer and public wifi, got a client, then got a software book and learned how to actually do the work =). For three years I could hardly walk up stairs or stand up at times, but I read every library book and online article I could find about networking, marketing, small business, and my interest in 3D modeling tech. I got featured in the local paper, then a state-wide magazine, then emailed by Google. Now I’m hiking again (slowly), paying my bills, and last month got $3K in contracts. I’m off food stamps, house-sitting instead of dealing with low-income housing, and I travel anytime. And I know that it’s only the start. If it weren’t for my tumor, malnutrition, and adrenal collapse, I might have always been too afraid to “go for it”. I always had too much to lose. Losing “everything” can really help you focus on what really matters, and what really sustains you. I have so much more peace of mind and satisfaction now.

There are great opportunities out there if people look, listen, and take chances.

Lewis, this post is amazing it gives me so much inspiration as I am still a small start up! I have been reading your website blog posts this week and this is just another amazing article from you. Thanks for the information.